Unlocking the Secrets of Emotional Eating: Understanding the Triggers and How to Overcome Them with Expert Tips

Emotions Can Impact Eating Habits

Did you know that your emotions can have a big impact on your eating habits? This very real fact is seen in countless movies and books. One of the most iconic ways this is seen is in those clichéd post breakup scenes where the girl sits in her room eating tubs of ice cream and dozens of chocolate candies.

 A Tub of Ice Cream and Heartbreak

We all laugh at those depictions, but there is a very real reason why this happens. When a girl is sitting, binging on sugary treats after a breakup, it’s because she’s eating to avoid the feelings of sadness and hurt from the end of a relationship. She may or may not recognize she’s eating to avoid her emotions, but that’s exactly what she’s doing. She is also getting dopamine hits from the ice cream, so pleasure from the ice cream is helping to diminish the pain of the breakup, which supports the Motivational Triad – the brain seeks pleasure, avoids pain, and wants to make the minimum effort.

 Buffer from Emotions

And we all do it. We use food as a buffer from our emotions. We don’t want to feel angry, rejected, or heartbroken so we eat instead. Not only is this unhelpful for our bodies, but it is also not a healthy way to process our emotions. When we use food as a buffer it lessens the impact of what we are experiencing.

We may think it’s okay to dampen the negative experience because we don’t want to feel it. However, when we avoid the emotions that come from a painful experience, we don’t experience the fullness life has to offer us. And when we avoid or suppress emotion, we make it more difficult to experience our days, as well as communicate with others about how we’re feeling.

As normalized as it has become to dive into food and resist the emotions that come from things we don’t want to experience, it’s just not helpful to do that. We need to experience and feel the good, the bad, and the ugly of life.

 Instead of Binging, Do This

When you start getting an itch to eat a large candy bar after getting bad news or going through an uncomfortable experience, pause for a second. Ask yourself if you’re eating to avoid what you’re feeling. If you are, then use these four steps to process your emotion.

Pause and take a few slow, deep breaths.

Ask yourself, “What emotion am I feeling?”

Ask yourself, “What is the emotion informing me of?”

Ask yourself, “Do I need to take action or just let the emotion be?”

 After checking in with yourself and your emotions, take a step back and evaluate if you’re actually hungry. If you are hungry then pick something more nutritious like an apple and peanut butter or some cheese and nuts then processed foods or sweet treats. By picking foods with more nutrition in them you’ll be fueling your body with high-value foods that won’t lead to a sugar high and then crash, which can make you feel even worse and perhaps exacerbate your emotional state.

 The Benefit to Feeling Emotions is an Optimal Life

Our emotions are meant to be felt and experienced. Set yourself up for success by not binging after a negative experience and blocking your emotions. Lean into your emotions and listen to what your mind and body are really telling you. By becoming more in tune with your emotions and how nutrition plays into them you will be on the path to living optimally.

 Want More?

If this resonates with you and you’d like to go deeper with your understanding of emotions and mindset, schedule a time to talk with me (scheduling link here) and I can explain how you can shift from an adequate life to an optimal life. One that you deserve.